How do mini-splits remove latent heat?

[thorton]

There is a fair bit of talk and lots of questions about mini-splits! I'm intrigued by them, myself. But what I don't understand is, with regular air conditioning that has duct work the return air brings back moist air to the evaporator and the moisture is removed as well as cooled. With mini-splits, I know the heads supply the sensiable cooled air, but how does go about it's latent heat removal without ducts?

thorton
____________________
You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals

[rayr]

??????????The same was as a window a/c unit does. The conditioned area air being circulated over the evaporator coil.

[dngtig]

The mini split ductless units work the same as a regular air conditioner. The return air is drawn through the top or front of the unit and drawn across the the cold evaperator coil which lowers the temperture and the humidity then discharges out the bottom into the room. The only thing missing is the duct work.

[skippedover]

What removes latent heat is the change of state of water from a vapor to a lquid. The way to do that is to have a large temperature drop across a coil. That's the basics. When you operate a mini-split with variable speed (inverter) technology, the outdoor unit generally varies it's output based on certain criteria. Refrigerant gas temperatures are one piece of the puzzle but thermostat setting is also part of it. If you slow the indoor blower down considerably, then more moisture is removed. Many, if not all, have a "dehumidify" setting that lowers the indoor fan speed appreciably and removes mostly latent heat and does very little cooling (sensible heat removal). In this respect, inverter/variable speed and dehumidify settings, the mini-split is way ahead of many other AC systems, including many of the central spit systems.

[kuryakin]

Same way any other air conditioner does. It condenses on the indoor coil trickles into the drain tray, and a hose carries it away.


There is a fair bit of talk and lots of questions about mini-splits! I'm intrigued by them, myself. But what I don't understand is, with regular air conditioning that has duct work the return air brings back moist air to the evaporator and the moisture is removed as well as cooled. With mini-splits, I know the heads supply the sensiable cooled air, but how does go about it's latent heat removal without ducts?

thorton
____________________
You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals